This invention relates to adjustable stop gauges mounted on the cutting tables of a cross-cut saw for quickly and accurately positioning of boards or other materials thereon for cutting of such boards or materials to predetermined lengths.
Generally speaking, such devices have long been known and used in the prior art. See, for example, those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 869,309 issued to W. A. Kramer on Oct. 29, 1907 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,435,382 issued to H. T. Caskey on Feb. 3, 1948.
Kramer teaches the use of an elongated bar containing threads thereon which are interrupted on opposite sides of the bar by flat faces. A series of elongated arms are mounted on the threaded bar and can be tilted downward into a channel. A spring located on a portion of the arm bears against a guard member when the arm is tilted downward into the channel which keeps the free end of the arm away from the wall of the channel in interrupting relation to the end of a board guided along a ruled segment in front of the channel. The arms have collars mounted upon the bar which allow the stops to be moved along the bar to selected positions when tilted upwardly out of line with the channel. The threads of the bar hold the stop arms securely in position when the arms are tilted downwardly into the channel for use.
Caskey teaches an adjustable saw gauge having an elongated bar or pivot pin mounted along and over a cutting table and a series of three arms or brackets containing wheels on the free ends thereof which are referred to as stop rings. The arms are slidable along the pin to the desired position relative to the saw blade and are secured in the desired position by a set screw.
One difficutly with these prior art saw gauges is that they are bulky and complex in their construction. The gauge of Kramer does not readily lend itself to being segmented so that additional segments may be added to segments already in use where it is desired to cut boards to widely different lengths. The stop gauge of Caskey does not permit a board to be brought onto the cutting table by sliding it along a fence but, rather, requires that the board to be cut to length first be roughly positioned in alignment with the blade by hand, then pushed rearward against a fence, and thereafter moved slightly to one side or the other to engage a stop. Also Caskey does not teach a gauge device which can be used to measure more than three specific board lengths at a given setting of the stops. As the stops are moved, painstaking measurements must again be made.
My invention substantially overcomes these and other prior art difficulties.